Transfer Policies for Students with Stale-Dated Credit

Increased student mobility within the British Columbia (BC) Transfer System (BCTS) means that students can easily enter and exit postsecondary studies. However, a significant amount of time may elapse between when a student acquires credits and when they wish to use, re-use or transfer those credits. This has led to BCTS member institutions facing challenges related to "stale-dated credit", and having to decide whether or how older credits should count toward program or credential completion. This study reviews policies and calendar information related to stale-dated credit at the 39 BCTS member institutions. Twenty-two institutions with stale-dated credit policies have institution-wide policies, but only six of those institutions also have policies addressing stale-dated credit from their own institution. Nineteen institutions have program-level policies around stale-dated transfer credit, and 12 have program policies around stale-dated credit from their own institution. It was noted when collecting these data that many institutions allow programs or departments to set their own time limits on the applicability of either transfer credit or "in-house" credit. However, it was extremely difficult to identify the programs or departments that currently had such limits in effect. The report begins with a review of relevant literature, including policies around stale-dated credit in other jurisdictions. It then summarizes and analyzes the policies around stale-dated credit at BC Transfer System member institutions, and concludes with recommendations based on the outcomes of the analysis.